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Million dollar shacks in Silicon Valley. Surely this bubble is different

Step right up, get your $1.8 million beater shack in Silicon Valley. Surely prices will rise forever and this time is different. Why that’s exactly what that nice real estate broker in the Million Dollar Shack documentary says too. No matter that he thinks lesser beings who worry about bubblicious prices need to be driven out of Silicon Valley so the monied class can replace them (and pay him fat commissions.) Pay no attention to the obvious fact that many homes are bought for big prices and left vacant because this is a fine way to hide and launder money – which essentially makes at least part of the entire bubble corrupt. And just because some Google employees live in their cars on Google parking lots is no reason whatsoever to say Silicon Valley real estate prices are in an unsustainable bubble. None, I tell you, none.

Absurd prices for rundown properties, soaring costs for rentals, even a tent in someone’s backyard that goes for $46 a night (you get an extension cord, one shower a day, and wi-fi) and all courtesy of i) greed, ii) an utter inability to learn from the past, and iii) the meteoric rise of Silicon Valley “unicorns” with stratospheric valuations.

To say “this won’t end well” would be an understatement…

As always, the comments on Zero Hedge are humorous and biting.

Ten years from now those rich buyers of today will be sleeping in their Teslas at the WalMart parking lot.
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Did i see tulips growing in that video?
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I wonder why nobody sees the real culprit here. It’s the easy money provided by the central banks. Even if you are a hard working tech at one of the big corps, you can’t afford housing, maybe a Sr director making 200% above average can afford a below average home, but that’s it. The tech industry does not support the housing prices at all, it’s the money from investors, which can borrow at very low rates. People should protest in front of 101 Market St and not in front of the town hall.
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I work at Google and many employees are living in vans and trucks on the campus. Just today when I cycled into the parking lot I saw a guy sleeping in his car and when I went out for a stroll I saw multiple vans & RVs parked near Stevens Creek. Same situation on the Google long term parking lot. I was chatting with someone from security last Sunday and she said it is actually fairly common.

So yeah. Us ‘evil’ techies are just money conduits. Our salary goes directly from our pocket into the landlords pocket. My landlord has never ever done any work on the shack I inhabit (a wooden box from the late 60’s) and yet increases the rent by 10% every year.